This invention relates generally to the field of electronic trading cards.
The sports trading card industry records greater than $200 million in revenue and dates back to the late 1800's. Over the past 100 years the trading card products have not changed much. The cards are constructed of cardboard or heavy paper, typically with a picture of the sports star on the front side and statistical data of the player on the back side. In the early days of this product, the cards were often distributed in cigarette packs. More recently the cards are packaged in wax paper packs with a stick of chewing or bubble gum. In addition to wax paper packs, the cards are often sold in cellophane packs, complete sets for a particular year, or as individual cards or sets generated by individual retailers and sellers.
Electronic trading cards, much like cardboard/paper trading cards, can be purchased, stored, traded or sold. Additionally, just like cardboard/paper trading cards, electronic trading cards can be sold as packs, sets, or consumer or retailer defined sets such as by team, position, MVPs, or as rookie players. Electronic trading cards may be displayed on a personal computer or a personal handheld device. Like cardboard/paper based trading cards, electronic trading cards may contain an image of the player and statistics/performance of the player, but may go beyond that to include electronic cross referencing information, video clips, sound recordings, additional images, and enhanced statistics/performance such as from a player's minor league play or from college play.